Complete Coverage: Upfronts 2012
New York -- GSN announced a programming and development
slate at its upfront presentation here Wednesday morning aimed at broadening
its brand to include a host of reality shows it dubs "real-life games."
Under new executive VP of programming Amy Introcaso-Davis, a
former Oxygen and Bravo exec, GSN has seven new series in development,
including the previously announced AmericanBible Challenge,
which will be hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. Also on Introcaso-Davis' first
development slate is $100,000 Pyramid,
a new half-hour version of the classic game show produced by Michael Davies'
Embassy Row.
In the "real-life game" category, the net has the half-hour Pure Gold, about a chain of stores
called The Gold Guys and the customers who come in to sell their gold and share
life stories; The Family Trade, about
a family-owned car dealership in Vermont that operates on the barter system;
and I Do, Now I Don't, about a New
York City business that buys and sells used engagement rings.
Also on tap is Crowning
Glory, which explores America's most unusual pageants like Miss Klingon
Empire and the Zombie Pin-Up; and War of
the Rose Sisters, about two auctioneer sisters Beth and Pam Rose who
compete to sell the most.
The series in development join two official series pick-ups
at GSN - the new hour-long Beat the Chefs,
where home cooks try to prove their family recipes can beat a team of
professional chefs for a $50,000 prize; and 65 new half-hour episodes of The Newlywed Game with Sherri Shepherd
returning to host the sixth season.
GSN, which is owned by DirecTV and Sony Pictures
Entertainment, is up 23% with women 25-54 and 12% with adults 25-54 over the
start of the 2011-12 broadcast season.
